Janda (0:00)

97.1Fm the drive presents the behind the Song podcast, taking you deeper into classic rock's most timeless tunes.

Christian Lane (0:08)

Here's your host, Janda Ziggy Goes to America. That is how David Bowie described his sixth studio album, the one with his most iconic album cover, the one with the lightning bolt, Aladdin Sane. Released in April of 1973. Aladdin Aladdin Sane was the follow up album and character to Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. And so this body of work marks the first time David Bowie wrote material after actually becoming a star. It represents the metamorphosis that occurred once the Ziggy character was killed off. And this new quote unquote formless mutant character was born. Named as a pun on the words, a lad insane. The album title is a nod to the biggest fear in Bowie's life up to that point, the schizophrenia that consumed his half brother Terry. Because this album was written largely while Bowie was touring America for Ziggy Stardust, the scenes and the people he met on the road in the States informed it, most especially the pulsating excitement and danger of New York City in the early 70s. It was in New York that Bowie met Iggy Pop at the famed Max's Kansas City nightclub, a meeting that would result in a deep friendship and in pop becoming a kind of muse for Bowie. And it was also in New York that Bowie met another muse, the Marilyn Monroe look alike Serinda Fox, who worked as a publicist for main man Bowie's management company, these two American oddballs, Pop and Fox became the inspiration for the lead single released from Aladdin, the glam rock anthem the Gene Genie. If you liked this episode, give it a like at the end. And don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Iggy Pop told Rolling Stone magazine that more than any other rock star he knew, David Bowie was genuinely interested in people, especially other people in the arts. Bowie was fascinated by Iggy Pop and the Stooges, his band of pop's wild Midwestern energy and the rawness of his stage Persona, the wild yang to Bowie's more reserved yin. Bowie was also at that time very interested in Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, a band with a sound that seemed to materialize directly from the New York City streets when other artists of the time were busy trying to figure out how to noodle guitar solos. The Velvet Underground or minimalizing droning under Reed's poetic stories, completely unique. Bowie was so taken with the music of the Stooges and the Velvet Underground that he co produced Lou Reed's transformer album and mixed the Stooges Raw Power album, all in the same year that he was touring the States and writing Aladdin Singh. Andy Warhol was another inspiration at that time, the leader of the New York City underground artist elite. And then there was Serinda Fox, a girl originally from Santa Monica, California, who was not only working for Bowie's management in New York, but was also a part of the regular crowd at Max's Kansas City, even though Bowie was married at the time to Angie Bowie. It was an unconventional marriage, to say the least, and he became romantically involved in New York with Fox. It was while staying in Fox's apartment that Bowie wrote what he called his first New York song and a smorgasbord of imagined Americana for her amusement, the Gene Genie. Bowie would go on to confirm the twin inspiration behind the song on his live album Santa Monica 72, when he told the audience that the Gene Genie is about a New York lady and a guy who lives in New York. And this being David Bowie, an avid reader throughout his life. The title of the song is a literary reference to the French writer Jean Genet, a social outcast and novelist that Bowie decided to pay tribute to with what he called that clumsy pun on the song's title. But that's where the tribute ended. The song's lyrics are all New York City, its character's based on Fox and pop, and the music is a throbbing bop provided by Bowie's old band, the Spiders from Mars, inspired by the Yardbirds version of Muddy Water's I'm a Man. The Gene Genie is pure glam rock gold, and it starts like this. A small Jean Genie snuck off to the city Strung out on lasers and slashback blazers Ate all the razors while pulling the waders Talking about Monroe walking on snow white New York's a go go and everything tastes nice Poor little greenie and then the chorus. The Gene Genie lives on his back the Gene Genie loves chimney stacks he's outrageous he screams and he bawls Gene Genie, let yourself go. That's Iggy Pop, who came from a trailer park in Ypsilanti, Michigan, from two normal, devoted parents and a conventional upbringing. He had his mind blown from music at a Doors concert, dropped out of the University of Michigan to play drums in blues bands in Chicago, eventually formed the Stooges and became one of the wildest frontmen in all of rock and roll and found himself in New York, where he fully enjoyed all that the nightlife of the big city had to offer, and where he met David Bowie. The song goes on to the second verse, Sits like a man but smiles like a reptile she loves him, she loves him but just for a short while she'll scratch in the sand Won't let go his hand he says he's a beautician and sells you nutrition and keeps all your dead hair from making up underwear Poor little greenie and the song ends with a repeat of the chorus, and it's fair to note here that Bowie was fully employing the use of the cut up method credited to the beat writer William Burroughs in his approach to lyrics for this album, cutting up existing text and then rearranging the words to generate new meanings, randomizing lyrics to provoke thought. But even through the purposeful randomness, the most solid takeaway from the second verse of seemingly nonsensical lines is she loves him, she loves him, but just for a short while. His relationship with Sarinda Fox In a nutshell, he was so taken with Fox that he had her star in the video made for the song. Directed by famed photographer and Bowie collaborator, the video was shot in San Francisco and depicts Bowie as a Ziggy kind of Hollywood street rat, with Surinda Fox prancing around him looking like a glam rock Marilyn Monroe, which she was. You really can't take your eyes off of either of them. And the fact that a video was made for the song in the first place was another example of Bowie's ability to seemingly see into the future, because in 1972 and 1973 music videos weren't yet anywhere near the cultural peak that they would be a decade later. There's even a throwback to his iconic Life on Mars video, also shot by Mick Rock in the footage for the Gene Genie, when the pair are seen in front of a sign for the Mars Hotel. The romance between David Bowie and Surinda Fox would be short lived, however. She would go on to marry David Johansson from the New York Dolls and then marry Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, with whom she had a daughter, Mia. She and Tyler divorced shortly before Aerosmith's big comeback in the 80s, and they had a famous falling out when she published a tell all memoir about their relationship, even titling it Dream on after the Aerosmith song, but they eventually reconciled as friends and parents, and it was Steven Tyler who paid her medical bills when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and he donated an Aerosmith guitar to a benefit concert held for her at New York's CBGB Club before her death, as did David Bowie. She passed away in 2002 at age 50. Bowie and Iggy Pop would go on as friends and collaborators, with pop joining Bowie in the later 70s to work in Berlin, putting their New York days and the addictions that they both struggled with, born during their time in New York behind them. When Aladdin Sane was released In April of 1973, it became Bowie's most commercially successful album up to that point. The COVID artwork remains one of the most arresting images in popular culture. It's been called the Mona Lisa of album covers for good reason. The COVID shot of the lightning bolt across Bowie's face, taken by British photographer Brian Duffy, was the most expensive ever at the time because of Bowie's insistence that the colors pop in a certain way, using seven colors instead of the usual four. This was also a clever management trick. Tony DeFries knew that if he could get the record label to commit to paying for that artwork, they would then have to promote the album to recoup the cost. On the COVID a lightning bolt splits Bowie's face in two with his eyes closed, almost like a death mask. The lightning bolt represented Bowie's split feelings about stardom and was said to be inspired by Elvis Presley's Taking Care of Business in a Flash logo, another nod to the Americana that inspired the entire album. By the way, it's fair to note here that Bowie and the King of Rock also shared a January 8th birthday. The new York Times really described the COVID art for Aladdin Sane best as the most cunning representation to date of this angel faced 25 year old English composer performer As a disembodied spirit of the space age, the Gene Genie is as undeniable as its creator. An anthem spun from a love of America and the people in it that Bowie found fascinating throughout his life. When it was released as a single, it was promoted with an advertisement which said written on the road, recorded in New York, mixed in Nashville, the first single to come from Bowie's Triumphant American tour. 50 years since its release, the song and the Aladdin Sane album still inspire conversation all over the world. Another gift from David Bowie's peerless body of work, still so very unique after all these years. And while he may have moved on from Aladdin Sane as quickly as he created the character, that lightning bolt logo is still the image most closely aligned with Bowie, the most recognizable of all the characters he invented for himself. A visual representation of the man behind the mask who struck like lightning time and time again. I'm Janda and this has been behind the song. Special thanks as always to Christian Lane for the music you hear on these podcast episodes. If you like it, give it a thumbs up and hit subscribe. You can check it out on TikTok too. Catch me on the air weekdays in Chicago from 9 to 2 at 97.1 FM the Drive, Chicago's classic rock. And@wdrv.com and on the way, much more classic rock and roll.